Caue Rodrigues' details the process behind his Old Pilar – Reloaded image, which was the scenes category award winner for June...

Introduction

Hello, my name is Caue Rodrigues and I would like to share how I produced this scene.

I'm not good at searching for a lot of references all in one go – this ends up confusing me – so I just choose a single image, something that I really see the potential in, and I think about it for a few days before getting started.

To start this project, I found a clean arch-viz image and began thinking about it until I was ready to start modeling.

Modeling

I used SketchUp for initial modeling. The Match Photo resource was very important for this.

I then started to model the base in SketchUp because I liked its simplicity. After that, I imported the project into 3ds Max and began the shading and detail process.

Modeling the base in SketchUp

ZBrush

As the name suggests, this project has an old pillar in it. So, I used ZBrush to create imperfections in the 3D model.

Using ZBrush to create imperfections in the pillar

Moving into 3ds Max

I then moved into 3ds Max, used LWF and set the unit system in inches/centimeters as follows.

I then added some elements to fill the scene. The majority of my model is ready because my focus has always been shaders, lighting and rendering. My biggest concern is to show some features of the environment: cold, heat, warmth, loneliness, and so on.

Applying the following settings in 3ds Max

Composition

To get a good angle, I used some photography techniques and Gestalt. To help me I used a script called imageCompHelper which is pretty good.

Working on the composition using a script

Corona sun and sky

In Corona Renderer, I used the default values to set the light source.